04/17/21 Snippet, PROCESSING DUTY.

Maybe one more day of this! Then I can start work on the other three. But those don’t need too much work. Huzzah!

After all that, I smelled the Brooder before we saw her. God, but those things stink. Brimstone and acid and blood, like the devils they look like. Not the worst things I’ve ever put down by myself, but they ain’t no lightweights.

Either Jack had no sense of smell, or he wasn’t thinking things through, because he kept on moving. I had to put out one arm – the one holding Bang-Man — to make him stop. When he whirled to I suppose glare at me, I shook my head quickly and raised one finger to my lips. Amazingly, he took the hint then.

I went on ahead. “Rangers lead the way,” right? But I did it calm. When you’re down in the dark, it’s real easy to hear what you don’t want to hear and see the monsters that ain’t there. Do that, and you end up getting killed by the monsters that are there. So I just let my heartbeat slow down and didn’t strain my eyes or ears. If there was something there, I’d know. If I didn’t, well, it’d probably be over quick.